Helicopter crash: Military crew from Norfolk rescued after 13 hours in snow, cold

Naval Station Norfolk

February 19, 2010|By By Cory Nealon | 247-4760

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK —

— The 17 sailors, soldiers, and Marines injured Thursday in a helicopter crash waited about 13 hours in freezing weather and four feet of snow before the first of them was rescued, a Navy captain said Friday.

Capt. Steve Schreiber, commodore of Helicopter Sea Combat Wing, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, said he was "incredibly relieved" that no one died as a result of the crash, which occurred during a training exercise over a West Virginia mountain range.

Names of the injured were not released; the helicopter and 11 sailors aboard it are based at Naval Station Norfolk. A Navy spokesman did not know Friday where the two Marines or four Army National Guard members are based.

Everyone aboard suffered non- life threatening injuries, from broken bones to bumps and bruises, Schreiber said. Nine service members were treated and released from a West Virginia Hospital; one was en route there Friday afternoon.

The remaining seven are being treated at U.Va. Trauma Center in Charlottesville.

The cause of the crash, which occurred about 20 miles south of Lewisburg, W.Va., has not been determined, Schreiber said.

The Navy MH-60S Knighthawk took off from Fort Pickett, an Army National Guard post 60 miles southwest of Richmond. It was en route to Camp Dawson — an Army National Guard post 25 miles southeast of Morgantown, W.Va. — when it crashed around 1:10 p.m.

At least two service members were temporarily trapped inside the craft, while others needed to be dug out of the snow, Schreiber said. Army National Guard officials sent Blackhawk helicopters and a C-130, which spotted the downed helicopter roughly five hours after the crash. Schreiber said poor visibility hampered the search.

The helicopters lowered medics to the crash site around 12:30 a.m. Friday; pilots then determined they could not safely airlift the injured. Rescuers, including people from local fire department and a ski resort, used snowmobiles and snow tractors to reach the site, Schreiber said.

They were slowed by woods and arrived at the site early Friday morning. The temperature was below 20 degrees, but the service members built fires to keep warm, Schreiber said.

The first evacuation occurred around 2:30 a.m. Rescuers took service members from the site to the nearest road — about 3 miles away.

The training mission, dubbed "Operation Southbound Trooper X," is an annual exercise organized by the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to a Navy press release. It is designed to bring together different branches of the military, Schreiber said.

"This is realistic training; it is absolutely necessary," he said.

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About the Knighthawk

The MH-60S Knighthawk entered military service in 2002. It has a four-person crew and can carry 13 passengers. It is a workhorse, according to Navy Web sites, and is used for various missions, including search-and-rescue, transport, and mine identification.